Nursing Home Patient Dies from Food Cart Collision

Nursing Home Patient Dies from Food Cart Collision

The family of a woman who died after being hit by a food cart in a San Diego, CA nursing home filed a wrongful death lawsuit. A jury recently ruled in their favor with an $800,000 verdict.

Margaret Kasper, a 94-year-old patient at the Vista Healthcare Center, died in 2010 after being knocked to the floor by a food cart and suffering a broken hip.

“Mom died a very violent and a very undignified death,” according to her son. “She was hit by a cart that was very large. Nobody could see over it.”

“The facility knew that somebody should walk in front of the cart and behind the cart when it was moved through the facility,” the family’s attorney said.

State records show the Department of Public Health visited the facility and cited them for the cart hitting Kasper.

A former receptionist testified under oath that the facility began using two people per cart, but for just two weeks. Later, she said, they used a secret code whenever the Department of Public Health would do an inspection. The code they used over the intercom system was “Simon, line 9.”

“Whenever the Department came in — you were supposed to get on the intercom and say ‘Simon, line 9’ loudly and frequently,” she testified. Vista Healthcare Center had no employee named “Simon” and no “Line 9”.

Her family said Kasper broke her hip in the cart incident and needed surgery. The day she returned from surgery, while she was recovering, she fell out of bed and died two days later.

“It goes far beyond negligence,” a family spokesman said.

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